E 
641 



SPEECH 



HON. GEORGE B. LORING, 

^restUent of tfje IHassatijusetts Senate, 



QUESTION OF RESCINDING THE RESOLVE OF 
DEC. 18, 1872, 



RELATING TO 



HON. CHARLES SUMNER'S PROPOSITION WITH REGARD 

TO THE ARMY REGISTER AND REGIMENTAL 

COLORS, 

January 30, 1874, 



BOSTON: 

WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 

CORNER OF MILK AND FEDERAL STREETS. 

1874. 



/ « 



SPEECH 
HON. GEORGE B. LORING, 

President of tfjt IHassacfjusctts Senate, 



QUESTION OF KESCINDING THE EESOLVE OF 
DEC. 18, 1872, 

RELA'i'ING TO 

HON. CHARLES SUMNER'S PROPOSITION WITH REGARD 

TO THE ARMY REGISTER AND REGIMENTAL 

COLORS. 

JANTJAEY 30, 1874. 



BOSTON: 

WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 

CORNER OF MILK AND FEDERAL STREETS. 

1874. 






SPEECH. 



Mr. President : — 

I ask the indulgence of the Senate while I 
discuss a question which has assumed an unex- 
pected importance, and has come at last to in- 
volve the profound interest of a large class of 
the thoughtful and earnest people of this Com- 
monwealth. A proposition made by Charles 
Sumner, in the Senate of the United States, 
early in the war of the Kebellion, and renewed 
when peace had so long sj)read over the land 
that the path of war was nearly obliterated, has 
given rise to a controversy which has been at- 
tended by unusual warmth of feeling on both 
sides. The friends of Mr. Sumner, — a long- tried, 
sincere and devoted body of political reformers, 
— filling every walk in life, from the student in 
his closet to the mechanic and laborer, who, for 
a quarter of a century, have caught their politi- 



cal inspiration from his burning words, feel that 
he has been censured without cause ; and feel 
it deeply. The critics of Mr. Sumner (for I will 
not call all those who differ from him on the 
question before us, his enemies) are equally 
earnest in their belief that he has lost sight of 
his obligations to the best sentiment of the 
Commonwealth, and to that self-sacrificing valor 
which saved her and the country in the hour of 
trial. In the midst of this excitement, Mr. Sum- 
ner, himself, has been very freely handled. His 
long political career has been explored and dis- 
cussed. His characteristics have been portrayed 
in striking lines. This very proposition with 
regard to army registers and regimental colors, 
which, had it originated with almost any other 
one of our public men, would have caused but 
little comment and hardly a ripple of feeling, 
has been mis-stated, magnified and distorted, 
until the true greatness of the author is lost 
sight of, and he is made rather an object of 
wonder than of admiration. 

^ow, sir, the prosperity and welfare of this 
Commonwealth are dear to us all. We are met 
within these walls to see that her institutions 
of learning and religion are guarded with a jeal- 



oils care. For the comfort of the unfortunate 
and the reformation of the erring, this assembly 
is pledged to devote itself wisely and humanely. 
It is understood throughout our borders that 
every citizen may find here protection for those 
rights which are guaranteed him by a free con- 
stitution. If there is a wrong, we are expected 
to redress it; if there are any suffering from op- 
pression and injustice, they turn to us for aid. 
And I cannot for a moment doubt, that every 
member of this body is impressed with a sense 
of the obligations which he owes to an educated 
and moral constituency, who sent him here, and 
to that Commonwealth whose honorable record 
ajDpeals to him continually, to exercise his best 
faculties for her future honor and prosperity. 
But, foremost among all those questions which 
bear upon the high tone and well-being of the 
State, stands the consideration which the State 
herself is to bestow upon those who have made 
her truly great. A pseudo-republic may afford 
to be ungrateful; a true republic cannot. Her 
wise and brave and honest men are her strength; 
and her capacity to produce the wise, the brave 
and the honest, is the measure of her greatness. 
A people who would preserve their power, and 



6 

who would so maintain themselves as to send 
forth from their own ranks those who can guide 
the State and preserve her institutions, and de- 
velop her wealth and resources, are bound to be 
generous as well as just, grateful as well as 
exalted, forgiving as well as watchful, — as much 
more proud of their great sons than the Roman 
matron was of hers, as the lofty sentiment of a 
high-toned community may be grander than mere 
personal pride. That this is the animating senti- 
ment of this Commonwealth and this country, I 
cannot for a moment doubt. I think I see all 
through the past, and in the passing events of 
our own day, that it is public virtue alone that 
has reached true public greatness; and that at 
the hands of an educated and discriminating 
peoj^le it has not failed to receive its high re- 
ward. Eccentricity and weakness may have cast 
a momentary shadow on the path of many whom 
we call great, and who have secured high places 
in our annals; but let us remember with pride 
and satisfaction that the shadow has been but 
momentary, and that thus far the people have 
wisely discriminated between mistaken judgment 
and the work of innate depravity. If we still 
expect to multiply our great accomplishments, 



we must cherish our great sous, remembermg 
that we cau preserve their humility by kiuclly 
consideration, and lash them into arrogance by 
injustice and wrong. From our people has 
sprung already a large store of intellectual and 
moral greatness, — poets and orators and schol- 
ars, — jurists and historians and divines, — philoso- 
phers Avho have made this State a home for the 
masters of science, — wise old age and chivalrous 
youth, — statesmen Avho have performed high ser- 
vice — soldiers who have an honorable record, — 
and martyred soldiers, who, dying on the battle- 
field, rose to a youthful and radiant immortality, 
and inscribed an inspiring chapter on the history 
of their country. In this illustrious company 
Charles Sumner has secured a high place, offer- 
ing as his tribute to his Commonwealth and his 
country, a constant and persevering effort to 
purify and elevate our institutions, — an example 
of integrity and high purpose worthy of all 
imitation, — a long, direct, and unswerving career 
as a statesman, — and a continued popular sup- 
port, almost unequalled in political history, and 
the natural result of an unwavering endeavor to 
be true to the best principles of republican state 
and society, laid down by those who founded 



8 

our government. Whatever may be his faults, 
this at least is his fame. And I think I do not 
assume too much — not more than every citizen 
of this Commonwealth would freely grant — when 
I ask that this should be considered, in our 
judgment upon any public act or expression of 
his which may not receive our entire and im- 
mediate approval. 

But, sir, what is the precise issue? 

As the civil war, from which w^e have but 
recently emerged, went on, and at its close, 
questions of greater or less importance continu- 
ally arose with regard to the arrangement of 
our civil and military affairs, and the reconstruc- 
tion of our republic. Ainong these questions the 
inquiry naturally came uj) as to how far the 
memories of the conflict should be perpetuated, — 
a question new to us, but one which had been 
considered and adjusted by every nation, ancient 
and modern, in which civil conflict had been 
carried on. It was in this connection, that on 
May 8th, 1862, Mr. Sumner offered, in the 
United States Senate, the following Resolve: — 

Resolved, That in the efforts now making for the 
restoration of the Union, and the establishment of 
peace throughout the country, it is inexpedient that 



9 

the names of the victories obtained over our fellow- 
citizens should be placed on the regimental colors of 
the United States. 



It was at this time that the struggles of the 
war were the severest. The calls upon Massa- 
chusetts for troops were incessant. Washington 
was threatened. Stonewall Jackson was dashing 
in triumphant career through Yirginia. The 
anxiety was great; and all the energies of this 
Commonwealth were put forth to respond to the 
call of the Federal goverjiment. Then it was 
that Governor Andrew declared: "But if the 
president will sustain Gen. Hunter, — recognize all 
men, even black men, as legally capable of that 
loyalty the blacks are waiting to manifest, and 
let them fight with God and human nature on 
their side, — the roads will swarm, if need be, 
with multitudes whom 'New England would pour 
out to obey your call." The people had begun 
to discover the true meaning of the war. Dur- 
ing the few months, about this time, nearly five 
thousand men had been recruited for three years' 
service, and sent to the front; also Cook's bat- 
tery ; three companies of unattached cavalry ; 
three companies of infantry to complete the 



10 

organization of the Twenty-ninth Regiment; the 
Twenty-eighth Regiment; the Sixth Battery; the 
Thirty-first Regiment ; seven companies, com- 
prising what was known as the Fort Warren 
BattaUon, and afterwards the Thirty-second Reg- 
iment which were sent forward to the Aniiy 
of the Potomac, and two companies for the 
Fourteenth Regiment, afterwards changed to the 
First Massachusetts Heavy ArtiUery. This was 
the sentiment which animated Massachusetts at 
this time, — a period in which McClellan was con- 
ducting the Peninsular campaign ; and Banks 
was struggling in the Yalley; and it was in the 
midst of these hard and discouraging days, and 
of the demands upon the patriotism of his own 
State, that Mr. Sumner, with sublime confidence 
in the result, and seeing afar off the victorious 
termination, offered the Resolve which I have 
just read. 

I look in vain for any censure, direct or im- 
plied, or any reflection cast upon him by legis- 
lature or people, on account of this proposition 
which he felt called upon to make in those early 
days of the war. The armies from JSToith Caro- 
lina to Mississippi were filled with Massachusetts 
men ; but they did not take him to task for his 



11 

utterance. The governor of Massachusetts was 
called on for reinforcements continually; and he 
only asked that the issue might be made high 
enough by the administration, and not that Mr. 
Sumner might be suppressed, in order to fill 
the roads with the advancing men of 'New Eng- 
land. The Eepublican State Convention met at 
Worcester on the 10th of September following. 
Governor Andrew was renominated ; a letter was 
read from Mr. Sumner, earnestly advocating 
emancipation as the issue of the war ; and Res- 
olutions were adopted, indorsing his views and 
favoring his reelection to the United States Sen- 
ate. The legislature met on the 7th of January 
following. I look in vain upon its journals for 
any censure of Mr. Sumner, for his Resolve of 
May 8th, 1862. On the contrary, I find him re- 
elected for a third term to the United States 
Senate, and that, too, by a legislature whose at- 
tention was largely drawn towards the soldiers 
of the Union army, and which passed an Act 
appropriating the sum of ten thousand dollars, 
for the benefit of the Discharged Soldiers' Home; 
— an Act authorizing state aid to be paid to 
families of drafted men the same as to fiimilies 
of volunteers ; — a Resolve in grateful acknowledg- 



12 

ment of the services rendered by our soldiers in 
the war; — an Act providing for the payment by 
the State of the pay due to the soldiers by the 
Federal government ; — an Act authorizing the 
governor to pay bounties, not to exceed fifty 
dollars each, to volunteers; — an Act appropriating 
twenty thousand dollai-s for the maintenance of 
agencies out of the Commonwealth, as the gov- 
ernor may find needful, for the aid of sick and 
wounded or distressed Massachusetts soldiers; — 
and an Act authorizing cities and towns to raise 
money by taxation for the support of the fiimi- 
lies of deceased soldiers ; also, fiimilies of sol- 
diers discharged for disability. Why, sir, this 
was a legislature especially devoted to the soldier; 
but I find no complaint of Mr. Sumner's Resolve 
on its journal. 

The war ended ; the armies disbanded ; the 
soldiers returned to their homes; the torn and 
tattered and honored and historic battle-flags 
were aathered into the archives of each State 
which had sent them forth; the reconciliations 
of peace went on; the fruits of the war were 
gathered in; a grateful people poured forth their 
tributes in every form to the loyal soldier; the 
reconstruction of the government was perfected; 



13 

and a restored and strengthened American Re- 
public had taken its place among the nations of 
the earth. It was in this state of affiiirs that 
Mr. Sumner, still true to a sentiment which had 
been tacitly accepted on a former occasion, and 
which had been universally adopted in the ad- 
justment of public difficulties, introduced into 
the Senate of the United States, on the 2d of 
December, 1872, the following: — 

A BILL TO REGULATE THE ARMY REGISTER AND THE REGIMENTAL 
COLORS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Whereas, The national unity and good-will among 
fellow-citizens can be assured only through oblivion of 
past differences, and it is contrar}'- to the usage of civ- 
ilized nations to perpetuate the memory of civil war ; 
therefore, 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rejoresen- 
tatives of the United States of America in Congress 
assembled, That the names of battles with fellow-citizens 
shall not be continued in the Army Register, or placed 
on the regimental colors of the United States. 

The introduction of this bill, a counterpart of 
the Kesolve of May 8th, 1862, and brought for- 
ward, as I have every reason to know, at the 
suggestion of an ardent friend of the national 
administration, as a final measure of reconcilia- 
tion, gave rise to a warm debate in the extra 



14 

session of the Massachusetts legislature in Decem- 
ber, 1872, which resulted in the adoption of the 
following Resolutions, December 18th, 1872 : — 

RESOLUTIONS relating to the bill pending in congress 

CONCERNING THE ARMY REGISTERS AND THE NATIONAL FLAGS. 

Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives 
in General Court assembled: 

That, Whereas, A bill has been introduced into the 
Senate of the United States by a senator of Massa- 
chusetts, providing "that the names of battles with fel- 
low-citizens shall not be continued in the Army Regis- 
ter, or placed on the regimental colors of the United 
States"; and 

Whereas, The passage of snch a bill would be an 
insult to the loyal soldiery of the nation, and depreciate 
their grand achievements in the late Rebellion ; therefore. 

Resolved, That such legislation meets the unqualified 
condemnation of the people of this Commonwealth. 

Resolved, That the governor be requested to forward 
to our senators and representatives in Congress copies 
of these resolutions. 

It is these Resolutions which we .are requested 
to rescind, or expunge, or in some way remove, 
or offset, by a legislative expression of our own. 
In advocating this I do not think it necessary to 
characterize the Resolutions passed by a former 
legislature by any very definite phrase. It is 



15 

claimed for them that they do not refer to Mr. 
Sumner in person, and that they do not cast 
censure on him for any act committed by him 
in the Senate of the United States. It is enough 
for me to Imow that they would never have been 
adopted but for his bill relating to the Army 
Register and regimental colors, and that they 
either refer to that bill and to him as the author, 
or else they refer to nothing and nobody. If they 
refer to him, I think they ought to be rescinded 
or expunged; if they do not refer to him and 
his bill, they certainly ought to be rescinded, as 
null and void, and occupying, without meaning 
or object, a place on the journals of the two 
branches of the legislature. IS^either do I care 
to discuss the wholesale statement that "such 
legislation" as that proposed by Mr. Sumner, 
"meets the unqualified condemnation of the peo- 
ple of the Commonwealth." The flood of peti- 
tions which has been poured in upon the legis- 
lature during this session and the last preceding, 
is a sufficient answer to this assumption. But I 
do desire to call the attention of senators to the 
danger which always attends the adoption of 
Resolutions which relate chiefly to personal poli- 
tics, by a legislative body convened to perform 



16 

the legitimate legislative business of a Common- 
wealth. To the indorsement of general princi- 
ples, or of a policy of government, which may 
become a part of the fundamental law of the 
land in a great crisis, there can be no objection. 
Our fathers set us an example of this which we 
can well afford to follow, when they filled their 
halls of legislation with representatives instructed 
by their constituents to support the independence 
of the rising republic. But neither sound wis- 
dom nor experience teaches us, that a legislature 
can with safety and a due regard for its dignity 
and duty, plunge into personal political contro- 
versies, Avhich are always likely to end in a way 
not anticipated by those who are engaged in 
them. The history of Kesolutions of censure in 
this country is not encouraging. 

With this feeling in my mind I cannot for a 
moment entertain the idea that the rescinding of 
a Resolution of this description is in any way an 
insult to the legislative body which passed it. 
It stands as an expression of opinion merely, — is 
expunged or rescinded as an expression of 
opinion,- — and can be renewed and adopted as 
still another expression of what may or may not 
be a popular sentiment. 'No Resolution has ever 



17 

yet been expunged from an American legislative 
journal that I am aware of, for the purpose of 
insulting its authors in a previous legislature; 
but as what the expungers thought an act of 
justice to those who were censured. 'No senator 
at this board in voting to rescind, proposes to 
cast a reflection upon those who adopted the 
Resolves which he wishes to remove. Every man 
is willing to allow that they were considei'ed by 
their supporters to be an honest expression of 
the opinion of the hour when they were adopted. 
But believing as we do that the time has arrived, 
when, viewed in the light of the present, they 
neither set forth the spirit and intention of Mr. 
Sumner, nor express the popular voice, they 
ought to be rescinded, we assume that the legis- 
lature which adopted them is still open to con- 
viction, and that we can express our views with- 
out a shadow of insult or reproach. We can 
repeal an Act without censure or reflection; why, 
then, can we not rescind a Resolve? 

And now a word with regard to our constitu- 
tional right to rescind or expunge these Resolu- 
tions, which has frequently been called in ques- 
tion. I had supposed that if this point had been 
settled in no other way, it had been settled by 



18 

well known and remarkable precedents, both in 
the legislature of this Commonwealth and of the 
nation. 

Every student of the political history of Mas- 
sachusetts is familiar with the Resolution which 
passed this body on the 15th of June, 1813, not 
only declining in substance to rejoice over the 
victory of the U. S. ship Hornet over His Bri- 
tannic Majesty's ship Peacock, — a victory which 
cost the country the life of one of her bravest 
officers, — but also reflecting severely on the war 
in which that victory was won. We have no 
record, that I am aware of, of the vote b}^ which 
this Kesolve passed the Senate. But we do 
know that it was looked upon at that time as a 
political party measure in the strictest sense, 
and that an early struggle commenced to expunge 
it from the journal. This eff'ort commenced Feb- 
ruary 10th, 1814, on a motion of Mr. Holmes, 
to erase the Kesolve ; and the motion was defeated 
by a vote of 20 to 8, the yeas and nays on the 
question showing a strictly party vote. The 
effort to expunge, hoAvever, was not abandoned; 
and on the 23d of January, 1824, the Hon. 
Seth Sprague, senator from Plymouth, a descend- 
ant of the Pilgrims, a sincere and manly rep- 



19 

resentative of their highest virtues, an early 
advocate of human freedom, an ardent patriot 
and a wise legislator, moved the following Reso- 
lution, which, with an elaborate preamble, was 
adopted by a vote of 22 to 15: — 

Resolved, That the resolve aforesaid of the 15th day 
of June, A. D. 1813, and the preamble thereof be and 
the same are hereby expunged from the journals of the 
Senate. 

Every student of the political history of our 
country is familiar with the long and violent 
contest in the United States Senate, over the 
proposition of Mr. Benton to expunge from the 
journal of that body the Kesolution adopted 
March 28, 1831, charging upon President Jack- 
son, that, "in the late executive proceedings in 
relation to the public revenue, he had assumed 
upon himself authority and power not conferred 
by the Constitution and the laws, but in dero- 
gation of both." For more than three years the 
contest raged from time to time in one form 
or another. The opponents of the administra- 
tion, driven from one point to another, clam- 
ored at last for the integrity of the journal. 
They were ready to "rescind, reverse and make 



20 

null and void," but not to " expunge." It was 
claimed that the Senate was required by the 
Constitution to " keep " a journal, and that the 
word " keep " meant to " preserve." To this it 
was replied that, " To keep a journal is to 
write down daily what you do. For the Senate 
to keep a journal is to cause to be written 
down every day the account of its proceedings; 
and having done that, the constitutional injunc- 
tion is satisfied. The Constitution was satisfied 
by entering this criminating Resolution on the 
journal; it will be equally satisfied by entering 
the expunging Resolution on the same journal. 
In each case the Senate keeps a journal of its 
own proceedings." And this argument was 
deemed to be satisfactory, sustained as it was 
by parliamentary precedent in this country and 
in England, in the Massachusetts Senate and 
in the British Parliament. And so in reference 
to the condemnatory Resolve of March 28, 1834, 
the following Resolve was adopted: — 

Resolved, That the suid resoke be expunged from 
the journal ; and, for the purpose, that the Secretary of 
the Senate, at such time as the Senate may 'appoint, 
shall bring the manuscript journal of the session of 
1833-34 into the Senate, and, in the presence of the 



21 

Senate, di'taw black lines round the said resolve, and 
write across the face thereof, in strong letters, the fol- 
lowing words : "Expunged by order of the Senate this 
16th day of March, 1837." 

The order of the Senate was carried out, and 
there the " strong letters " remain to this day. 

The student of English political and parlia- 
mentary^ history is familiar with the case of the 
Middlesex election, in which the Resolution to 
expel John Wilkes was expunged from the 
journal. The contest over this expunging Re- 
solve commenced in 1769, and continued until 
1782, when it was adopted as follows: — 

Resolved, That the resolution of the House of the 
17th of February, 1769, "that John Wilkes, Esq., 
having been in this session of Parliament expelled this 
House, was, and is, incapable of being elected a mem- 
ber to serve in the present Parliament," be expunged 
from the journals of this House as being subversive of 
the rights of the whole body of electors of this king- 
dom. 

And this Resolve was ultimately adopted in 
the House of Commons by a vote of three to 
one, supported as it was by Burke, and Fox, 
and all the friends of American Independence 
and human freedom in that august body. 



22 

Why, sir, it seems to me that by these prec- 
edents, in establishing which this very body of 
which we are members has performed a part, 
we may not only learn what our constitntional 
rights and powers ,are, bnt what has become the 
parliameiitary form in which dissent from re- 
corded Resolves may find its way npon the 
jom'nals of legislative bodies. The w^ord " ex- 
punge " has become as familiar almost as the 
word "resolve"; and I trust it will be accepted 
in relation to Resolutions, as the word "repeal" 
is accepted in relation to Acts and Statutes. So 
much for our powers. 

I suppose, Mr. President, the character of 
every legislative measure is to be estimated from 
the results of its o^^eration, and in order that 
senators may understand the exact purport of 
the bill introduced by Mr. Sumner with regard 
to the Army Register and regimental colors, I 
will endeavor to set forth the effect it would 
produce were it to become a law. The Resolu- 
tions adopted by our predecessors in these halls 
declared that " the passage of such a bill would 
be an insult to the loyal soldiery of the nation, 
and depreciate their grand achievements in the 
late RebelHon." We have been told in terms so 



23 

earnest that we could not for a moment doubt 
the sincerity of those who stated them, that the 
bill was a blow at the maimed and wounded 
soldier, whose presence reminds us continually of 
the desperate severity of the struggle with the 
Rebellion, and a reflection upon the memory of 
those who laid down their lives in that bloody 
conflict. We have been repeatedly and solemnly 
warned that this is but the beginning of a 
movement which will end in the obliteration of 
all mementos of the war, and in the overthrow 
of those monuments which have arisen in every 
loyal village of our land, to record the valor of 
our sons, and to teach the lesson of patriotic 
devotion to those who come after us, — those sol- 
diers' monuments, in the erection of which the 
grateful hearts of our people have inspired an 
honorable liberality, and in the dedication of 
which some of us have again and again oftered 
our best thoughts and sentiments, feeling that 
no tribute could be great enough for the sacred 
service. It has been urged upon us that this is 
but a signal for the soldier to retire from the 
front and be forgotten. ]!^ow, sir, all this may 
be true. But where and how is this work to 
begin? The bill deals entirely with the Army 



24 

Register and the regimental colors of the Reg- 
ular Army of the United States. At the present 
time the army consists of : 

Cavalry — Ten regiments, four of which were 
organized by Act of Congress July 28, 1866, and 
of course took no part in the civil war. 

Artillery — Five regiments, the First having 
been engaged at the Heights of Queenstown, 
October 13, 1812, in the Florida and Mexican 
wars, and in the civil war until the autumn of 
1864 ; the Second, beginning at Chippewa, and 
ending at Cedar Creek ; the Third having been 
engaged at Chippewa, in the Florida and Mexi- 
can wars, and in the civil war to the battle of 
Laurel Hill, October 7th, 1864; the Fourth 
dating also from Chippewa to Hatcher's Run, 
March, 1865 ; and the Fifth from Bull Run to 
Petersburg, April, 1865. 

liSfFANTRY — Twenty-five regiments, two of 
which have been organized since the war, many 
of the remainder dating from the war of 1812. 
Ten of these regiments of infantry have been 
re-organized by consolidation of other regiments, 
many of them not having taken part under their 
present names in engagements which are credited 



25 

to them, but which belong to those regiments of 
which they are composed. 

It seems, therefore, that there are forty regi- 
ments of cavalry, artillery and infantry combined, 
many of which took no part in the civil war, 
and many others of which have l^een re-organ- 
ized since that conflict ended. It is the regi- 
mental colors of these regiments alone which 
can possibly be affected by the bill of Mr. Sum- 
ner, and which are in any way directly inter- 
ested in the issue. To this extent can the ques- 
tion be carried — no more. To about thirty 
regiments of the regular army, composed of 
men from all sections of the country, com- 
manded, or to be commanded, by. ofiicers selected 
without regard to birthplace and parentage, the 
suggestion of Mr. Sumner is alone applicable. 
He desires that the colors which float over them 
shall remind them only of that united nationality 
in whose service they are engaged, and of those 
battles in which the entire country had a mutual 
and undivided interest. Can we not imagine 
that in his mind the thronging regiments of a 
loyal I^orth, to whom belongs the glory of the 
war, stand before the world in a very different 
light from that presented by a regular army 



26 

organized without reference to State or section? 
The seventy-eight regiments which Massachusetts 
sent to the war, — can he place them in history 
exactly by the side of the heroes of Chepulte- 
pec and Okee-cho-bee? Can you, sir? It was 
as JS^orthern regiments that they all, vohniteers 
and regulars, fought for the Union ; and those 
that continued in the service became national, 
when the war ended and the Union was pre- 
served. American success and renown in the 
civil war are not based on the achievements of 
a standing army. While the regular regiments 
did their duty well in that great conflict, the 
grand accomplishments of the war are due to 
that vast body of citizens, once a citizen-soldiery, 
now fining every walk in civil life, — whose tat- 
tered regimental colors are preserved as trophies 
of their valor in the archives of every loyal State, 
and whose glory cannot be taken from them. 
On their regimental colors, on the monuments 
erected in memory of their dead comrades, on 
many a radiant page of their countrj^'s history 
which will be cherished and pondered long after 
ai'my registers shall all be forgotten, will be 
found the hallowed names of those conflicts 
which preserved and purified the nation. To the 



27 

heroes of those conflicts belong still the tattered 
battle-flags ; to them belong the memorial daj's ; 
to them belong the monnments ; to them belong 
the historical renown, — which no Act of Congress 
can take from, them, and of which, thank God, 
no son of Massachusetts has ever yet desired to 
deprive them. 

And, then, why should Mr. Sumner be en- 
gaged in insulting "the loyal soldiery of the 
nation"? The relations which history has estab- 
lished between him and them are most intimate. 
He must know that but for them the eftbrts of 
his long public service would have availed noth- 
ing; his prayer for freedom and humanity would 
have been in vain. He must know that their 
victory Avas his victory. And they mnst know 
that when they look for the crowning glory of 
their toil and suftering on the field of battle, 
they find it in the triumph which their victorious 
swords secured for the principles of free govern- 
ment, and civil rights, and social equality, which 
Charles Sumner has proclaimed and defended 
with unequalled constancy and devotion. Strip 
from yonr banners, loyal soldiers of the I^orth! 
the doctrines which he laid down as the true 
object of the war, — roll back the tide of freedom 



28 

which flowed on with your advancing and vic- 
torious ranks, — wipe out the Emancipation Pro- 
clamation, and restore the ahnost forgotten 
statutes for which the war began, — and mark 
then the shadow which woukl fall upon the 
page whereon your heroic deeds are recorded. 
The war was great in its military achievements; 
but greater still in the great reform which it 
accomplished. And I cannot believe that the 
soldiers who won that military renown, will 
hasten to condemn the foremost advocate of 
those doctrines, which shed peculiar lustre on 
their daeds of valor, or will be ready to believe 
that by thought, or word, or deed, he would 
detract from the position they have honorably 
won. 

I think, sir, I can find other motives, and 
very different from those attributed to him, 
which may have led Mr. Sumner to make his 
proposition early in the war, and to renew it 
in times of peace. While he stands foremost 
among the progressive statesmen of our coun- 
try, he is also strongly attracted by great his- 
toric events and great historic precedents. To 
his mind the passage of time has evidently 
established certain well-worn channels in which 



29 

the currents of historical events may naturally 
flow ; and to him, as to every student, there 
IS a certain charm about historical correspond- 
ences, and analogies, and precedents, and })oli- 
cies, and characters, as they appear from age 
to age. He had before him that striking and 
mysterious sensitiveness which led the Romans 
to preserve all possible silence over their civil 
wars, and decreed that Caesar should not 
triumph over Pompey, even after he had con- 
quered him. So, too, the record of the British 
army had impressed him, as it will us. ]^oth- 
ing need be said of the wars of the Roses 
or of the Commonwealth, because the regi- 
ments of that day do not now exist. But 
Culloden was one of the most important battles 
in British history, for the Stuart dynasty re- 
ceived there its final defeat. The regiments 
in that field, commanded by the king's son, 
still exist ; but this battle is not on their 
colors. How could it be without annoyance 
to every Scotchman ? Our Revolutionary war 
was to England a " civil war," — so called con- 
tinually, and so treated, — inasmuch as not one 
of its numerous battles figures on any regi- 
mental colors ; while the battles of the war of 



30 

1812 — Niagara, Detroit, Bladensburg, — are to be 
found in the British Army List and on the 
regimental colors; and this because in this 
latter war the United States were a foreign 
power. The celebrated 4th, or King's Own 
Kegiment, which so annoyed our fathers and 
played an important part during the siege of 
Boston, displays not a single name of a rev- 
olutionary battle; but rejoices in the glory 
shed upon it by Corunna, and Badajos, and 
Salamanca, and Yittoria, and St. Sebastian, 
and the Peninsula, and Bladensburg, and 
Waterloo, and Alma, and Inkermann and Se- 
bastopol. The 5th regiment, which was here 
during the Revolutionary war, glories in a long 
list from Corunna to Lucknow; the 35th re- 
cords its deeds in Hindostan and the Penin- 
sula; so the 33d, the Duke of Wellington's, 
remembers with pride Waterloo, Alma and 
Sebastopol; the 42d the Royal Highland, Nemo 
me impune lacessit, marches with firmer step 
beneath the names of Pyrenees, Corunna, Tou- 
louse, Waterloo, and Lucknow; and the 41th 
turns its eye upon Salamanca, and is reminded 
of that fiery time when Marmont was defeated 
by the Iron Duko, and acknowledged that no 



31 

Marshal of France could resist his impetuosity 
and skill. India, the Peninsula, the Crimea, 
the Continent, all furnish names to adorn the 
regimental colors of these historic bands which 
I have enumerated; but nowhere on these colors, 
or in the British Army List, do I find the names 
of Bunker Hill, and Saratoga, and Camden, and 
Long Island, and Guilford, and Monmouth, and 
Yorktown, battles of the British soldiers with 
their brethren. 

This English rule is followed in Fi-ance. 'No 
battle in civil wai- appears on any French flag. 
The same is true in Prussia; nor has Austria any 
battle with the Hungarians written on her colors. 
The rule seems to be universal, No battle in civil 
war can find a place on the regimental colors of a 
united people. This is the lesson taught by his- 
tory and by national example. 

And may we not charge, moreover, the viev^'S 
of Mr. Sumner on this matter partly to the 
spirit of reconciliation, which has constituted 
one of the most remarkable features of the 
war and peace policy of the American govern- 
ment and people? In nothing has our repu])- 
lic manifested its conscious stren^'th more than 
in this. Without example or precedent we 



32 

have conquered insurgents, and then forgiven 
them. Whether this is due to the confidence 
which the American people feel in the vital 
energy and strength of their form of govern- 
ment, or to the elevating influence upon the 
popular mind of the great philanthropic results 
of the war, I will not undertake to say. But 
it has borne along with irresistible force states- 
men and warriors and people alike, and forms 
a contrast to the policy and necessity of other 
nations in the midst of civil war, of which we 
have reason to be proud. As an evideuce of 
innate strength it is unparalleled; as a test of 
that strength it should never be forgotten by 
all people endeavoring to found and maintain 
a free state. That general amnesty which has 
even opened the halls of Congress, and pre- 
pared the way to high seats in the national 
councils, for those who not long since were 
arrayed against the government, — what a prob- 
lem will it furnish the future historian ! That 
advice of our victorious general to the armed 
bands who surrendered to his superior power and 
skill, that they should retain their horses and 
return at once to their labor on the land which 
they had left for the battle-field, — what an example 



33 

it set to the conquerors of all coming time ! 
And would you learn -the value of all this by 
contrast ? Turn, if ,you would, to the capture 
of Monmouth after the battle of Sedgemoor ; — 
the last fight deserving the name of battle 
that has been fought on English ground ; — 
Monmouth, discovered as he was at length, a 
gaunt figure hidden in a ditch, his beard pre- 
maturely gray, his appearance abject, his cour- 
age gone before the fate which in those days 
awaited a conspirator. Follow him on his 
weary journey to London, listen to his feeble 
lamentation, and recall his painful and sicken- 
ing death on the block, at the behests of a 
king who had neither courage nor magnanimity 
enough to spare him. You know the resem- 
blance and the contrast in our own history. 
Would you go still further ? Remember the 
fate of Lesley's men at Dunbar, exiled when 
defeated by the Protector who betrayed a re- 
public, and compare it with the wisdom of him 
who conquered Lee's army before Richmond, 
and, having saved a republic, advised the insur- 
gents to return quietly to their homes. Would 
you go further still ? Remember,, then, the re- 
publican butcheries at Satory, and mark the 



34 

gloom of that cold, gray winter morning when 
Rossel, the brilliant and • accomplished, was shot 
down, a sacrifice to the fears of a sham republic. 
I hardly know^ which in after-time will be ad- 
mired most, our vigorous prosecution of the war, 
or what John A. Andrew so nobly called our 
vigorous prosecution of peace. But of one 
thing I am sure, — that no word of mine shall 
ever discourage any American, high or low, in 

his endeavor to ioin the ranks of those who 
^ f 

have labored to prove to the world that in a 
true republic, " the hour of triumj)h is the hour 
of magnanimity." 

But I know I shall be reminded, as I have 
already been, that Mr. Sumner insisted most stren- 
uously on confiscation and death as the punishment 
for treason, even while manifesting on other points 
a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation. I agree ; 
but I charge this again to the teachings of his- 
tory. The law of the world almost with regard to 
treason and conspiracy was — '"'' indemnity for the 
past and security for the future." "' Rebels in arms 
are enemies," we have learned from all the foun- 
tains of constitutional law; and the natural infer- 
ence was that persons arrayed for the overthrow 
of the government of the United States are crimi- 



35 

nals and enemies, because they set themselves up 
traitorously against the- government of their coun- 
try. " The goods of enemies, as well those found 
among us as those taken in war, shall be confis- 
cated," said the highest legal authorities. In the 
state trials in England we have been told that " no 
country can ever be brought thoroughly under sub- 
jection, if it is to be held that where there has been 
a conquest, and no capitulation, the mere publica- 
tion of a proclamation desiring the people to be 
quiet and telling them that means would be re- 
sorted to if they were not so, so far reduces the 
country under civil rule that the army loses its 
control, and the municipal courts acquire altogether 
jurisdiction, so that every action of the officers in 
the direction of military affairs is liable to their 
cognizance." And we are disposed to be warned 
thereby. We learn from Roman history that "con- 
fiscation is inseparable from war," — a rule but little 
known, it is true, in the better days of the republic, 
but prevailing under the emperors ; and that " it 
was a distribution of bounty lands among the sol- 
diers of Octavius, after the establishment of his 
power, that drove Yirgil from his paternal acres to 
seek imperial favor at Rome." We know that con- 
fiscation was directed in Florence against Dante, 



36 

and in Holland against Grotius. By it "William of 
Normandy despoiled the Saxons of their lands and 
divided them among his followers. In Germany, 
during the period of theological conflicts, it was 
often used among the Protestants. In Spain it 
was applied to Moors and Jews. By the law of 
England it was the inseparable incident of treason 
— flourishing always in Ireland and Great Britain. 
The scafi'old always turned over to the government 
the estate of its victim. In modern France, confis- 
cation has played a conspicuous part. From Au- 
gust 10th, 1792, in the French Revolution, to 1801, 
sales had been authorized to the amount of 2,560,- 
000,000 francs. All IS^apoleon could do was to 
reduce the list, and even he declared, when the 
exempts returned and proceeded to cut down their 
forests in order to strip the land and fill their pock- 
ets, " We cannot allow the greatest enemies of the 
republic, the defenders of old prejudices, to recover 
their fortunes and despoil France." The confisca- 
tion of the property of Loyalists and Tories was a 
part of the colonial work during our Revolution. 
"Can we subsist," said the patriot Hawley to El- 
bridge Gerry, July 17, 1776, " did any State ever 
subsist, without exterminating traitors?" In al- 
most all the thirteen original States, from 1778 to 



37 

1787, statutes of confiscation and the settlement of 
confiscated estates for the benefit of government 
were passed. KeUef for all this was found in a 
recommendation by Congress "that the legisla- 
tures of the respective States should restore the 
estates, rights and property of real British sub- 
jects, and also of those who have borne arms 
against the United States." That confiscation was 
complete but few doubted. Jefferson, when Secre- 
tary of State, in a very able state paper sustained 
the policy of the United States Government, hold- 
ing that the confiscation is complete by the passage 
of the Act of confiscation, — "both the title and the 
possession being diverted out of the former pro- 
prietor, and vested in the State." And the Su- 
preme Court sustained him. 

This is the lesson which history teaches us ; and 
it is easy to see how, iu the turmoil and difficulty 
of a vast insurrection, the accepted policy of every 
civilized nation, and our own declared theory 
should have appeared inevitable and necessary. 
The punishment of political ofi'enders and state 
criminals has occupied a place in history alongside 
of the penalities imposed upon capital offences of 
every description; and it has had no relation 
whatever to those measures by which the masses 



38 

of the people are to be reconciled, and the way 
prepared for their return to the blessings of peace 
and a united state after the convulsions of civil 
war. It remained for us in our own hard expe- 
rience to teach mankind that the offences which 
attend political disturbances, and spring from 
political controversies and passions, cannot be 
attached to individuals alone; that oftentimes it is 
the people Avho lead, and not their agents, in the 
strife; and that a beneficent government can main- 
tain itself better by magnanimity than by the 
terrors of confiscation and death, in which too 
often the innocent sufl^er with the guilty, and by 
which an undying sense of wrong is left as a 
legacy, and is accepted for generations as an 
inheritance. But all this we have been compelled 
to learn for ourselves. We had no teachers. And 
I should be sorry to believe that an able and ex- 
haustive exposition of the law relating to political 
off'enders, as laid down by jurists and statesmen 
of all ages, and accepted as the necessary attend- 
ant of the sword in civil convulsions, should be 
charged against any United States Senator as an 
evidence of a severity inappropriate to the land 
and the age in which we live, and inconsistent 
with the measures of moderation in which he has 



39 

taken conspicuous part. I^or can I understand 
why an advocate of existing law and established 
precedent should be denied the privilege of 
smoothing the path of the innocent, while he feels 
compelled to pass the guilty over to merited pun- 
ishment. The American nation has laid down a 
better law, and established a better penalty for 
treason. Does any man suppose that Mr. Sumner 
fails to accept this as one of the most Christian 
acts of that country w^hich he is proud to call his 
own, and for whose dignity and elevation and 
prosperity he has ever been diligent and watchful ? 
It seems to me, sir, easy to understand how as an 
advocate of every measure of reconciliation, he 
should also be allowed to define the penalty of 
treason. 

But, sir, assuming that Mr. Sumner, on the 
matter immediately before us, is mistaken, and 
that the policy of other nations with regard to 
their army registers and regimental colors is not 
acceptable to the American people, is his offence 
really of such magnitude as to call for public cen- 
sure from the highest assembly of the Common- 
wealth which he represents ? We should not for- 
get that legislative censnre is a matter of deep and 
profound import. It stands next in the scale to 



40 

impeachment. It properly applies to all delin- 
quencies which foil short of those grave offences 
for which the Constitution provides an equivalent 
punishment. But these delinquencies are not to 
be hastily and thoughtlessly arraigned. Gross 
and wilful violation of the Constitution by a public 
servant, or a dangerous assumption of power, is 
easily classified and easily presented. But a dis- 
tasteful judgment, a disappointing vote, an unex- 
pected opinion, are not matters which come so 
near to moral turpitude, or a neglect of trust im- 
posed, or any other unimpeachable oifence, as to 
merit that form of rebuke which stands next to 
impeachment itself. ]^othing but the possibility 
that a position assumed by a representative of the 
people may lead to disastrous results, if followed 
out to a legitimate conclusion, should subject that 
representative to popular rebuke or legislative 
censure, and then only as a warning or as an ap- 
peal which at the commencement of what might 
lead to severer measures, may be wise and judi- 
cious, and in fact useful. But legislative censure 
simply as an expression of difference of opinion is 
undoubtedly harsh, and may be unjust. Expres- 
sions of this sort apply properly to questions of 



41 

general interest in which personal reputation is not 
involved. 

HithertOj Massachusetts has been extremely 
careful in legislative action of this kind; and in 
fact great care has been exercised in this respect 
in all her popular assemblies. Expressions of 
opinion by the press and the people have always 
been freely and liberally given. But the exercise 
of authority has been cautious and mild. The 
criticisms passed upon her public men have seldom 
taken the form of official declaration; owing, I 
doubt not, to a feeling that every man should have 
an opportunity for free and fair and unprejudiced 
discussion. This has always been allowed. 

Few of us have forgotten, for instance, the 
remarkable, stirring and prophetic speech of 
Senator Sumner, at the Repubhcan State Conven- 
tion at Worcester, October 1, 1861. It was less 
than six montlis after the war began. It was less 
than three months after Congress had declared by 
formal Resolve that the war was conducted for 
the restoration of the Union and not for inter- 
ference with the domestic institutions of any 
State. It was a convention of men controlhng 
the politics of Massachusetts, possessed of the 
executive and the legislature, and supporting the 



42 

Federal administration then in j^ower. Mr. Snm- 
ner's theme was ^^ Ejnancipation our best JVeaj)- 
0)1'^; and after having denounced slavery as the 
cause of the war, he exclaimed — " Two objects 
are before us, Union and Peace, each for the 
sake of the other, and both for the sake of 
the country; but without emancipation how can 
we expect either ? " " Hearken not," said he, 
""'to the voice of slavery, no matter what its 
tone of persuasion. It is the gigantic traitor 
and parricide, not for a moment to be trusted. 
Believe me, its friendship is more deadly than 
its enmity. If you are wise, prudent, economi- 
cal, conservative, jDractical, you will strike quick 
and hard, — strike, too, where the blow will be 
most felt, — strike at the main-spring of the 
Rebellion. Strike in the name of the Union, 
which only in this way can be restored, — in 
the name of peace, which is vain without the 
Union, — and in the name of libert}^, also, sure 
to bring both Peace and Union in her gloi-ious 
train." 

Think not that this speech was approved l)y 
the party to which Mr. Sumner belonged. It 
was not. '^ The convention certainly disavowed 
any intention of indorsing the fatal doctrines 



43 

announced by Mr. Sumner," said a leading 
republican organ on the day after the speech 
was made. "His appearance this year was not 
in accordance with the wishes of those who do 
not follow his lead, but regard him as one of 
the most irrepressible impracticables of the 
party," said another. "We fear it is but an 
illustration of the mental perversity produced 
by entire absorj^tion in a single aspect of a 
great question without regard to its manifold 
relations, and by the ^sacred animosity' which, 
too exclusively nourished, renders the best men 
reckless of means in the pursuit of what they 
consider the chief end of life," said another. 
" Charles Sumner's speech will be found on our 
first page to-day. "We give it, not by way of 
approval, for it seems to us the worst speech 
that could be made," said another. Mr. Sumner 
had arrayed himself against the avowed policy 
of the republican party of that day, against the 
policy of the administration whose supporter he 
was expected to be in Congress, and against 
the expressed views of his political associates. 
But, dangerous as his doctrines were then 
thought to be, he received no legislative cen- 
sure ', he was not severed from his party; he 



u 

was allowed to discuss his views freely and fairly, 
and the discussion ended in such an overwhelm- 
ing triumph of his doctrines that the whole 
country has accepted them, and the dispute has 
ended forever. 

When a distinguished member of Congress from 
this State advocated financial views which were 
deemed worthy of special rejection by his own 
party, both in national and state convention, and 
were denounced by the press and on the platform 
in most unmeasured terms, he received still the 
party support to which his general views entitled 
him, and no man heard of legislative censure. His 
doctrines were rejected; but the freeman's right of 
debate was not denied him, nor was he condemned 
unheard. 

When the great Massachusetts Senator who won 
for himself the proud title of the Defender of the 
Constitution, felt called upon to advocate doctrines 
which were obnoxious to a large part of the people 
of this Commonwealth, in the discharge of his duty 
as he understood it, during a severe crisis in our 
history, the press and the pulpit and the rostrum 
thundei'cd against him; but the journals of the 
legislature contain no record of that stormy con- 
flict which was quietly suppressed in these halls, 



45 

where his voice had been so often heard, and where 
he so often received his civic crown. 

When the administration of General Grant was 
laboring to establish the principle of arbitration for 
the adjnstment of international difficulties, as a 
Christian substitute for war, and presented it to 
the people as the most honorable act in its domes- 
tic and foreign policy, you well know with what 
vigor and eloquence it was opposed here, and how 
silent a Republican legislature was with regard to 
that opposition. When the popular indignation 
was raging against an Act of Congress, increasing 
the salaries of a large number of public officials, 
Congressmen included, and the legislature was 
called upon to utter its protest against the obnox- 
ious measure, have you forgotten how resolutely it 
refused to enter into the conflict? When a prom- 
inent and faithful member of Congress from this 
State, charged upon the administration in the early 
months of its existence, that its extravagance was 
ruining the country, and his utterances were used 
as a powerful weapon against his own party, a Re- 
publican legislature was silent. And the debate 
went on. 

^o, sir; our political history is full of incidents 
like these, in which opportunities occurred, and 



46 

legitimate opportunities, too, as many were in- 
clined to think, for legislative censure. But I look 
in vain for it. Massachusetts has learned to toler- 
ate great freedom of opinion among her people; 
and to this grand purpose I trust she will adhere 
so long as she claims to be a free Commonwealth 
in a free E-epublic. 

And now, Mr. President, I do indeed reproach 
myself for having occupied so much of the time 
of the Senate on a question which I suppose I 
ought to have considered settled in the minds of 
every senator at this board. I know how thor- 
oughly it has been discussed ; and perhaps I 
ought to have known that it was presumptuous 
in me to hope to add a single argument to the 
great mass already accumulated, or a particle of 
information to that already poured forth by abler 
lips than mine. But you will j^ardon me when 
I suggest that perhaps all the facts in the case 
had not been laid before the public mind, and 
that I may have thrown some light upon the 
true intent and meaning of Mr. Sumner's bill. 
I have no other desire than that a fair and can- 
did verdict shall be passed upon his proposition. 
I must confess to a little anxiety that justice 
shall be done ere it is too late; for I am sure 



47 

that if this business is prolonged, and year after 
year shall roll away, those who come after us 
and proceed to the duty which we should per- 
form, will not look back with entire satisfaction 
upon the blot which we have left upon an other- 
wise spotless reputation. I sincerely believe that 
I utter the voice of the people of Massachusetts 
on this matter, who, without distinction of party, 
respect a great and good man, I trust that, 
after the explanation I have made, it will be 
found that I have set forth views which, if not 
entirely acceptable to the loyal soldiers of the 
nation, will at least be borne by them with kind- 
ness and with consideration for their advocate 
and friend, for whom I speak. But hoAvever this 
may be, I speak for myself honestly and sincere- 
ly, and with a Avarm desire to express the grati- 
tude I feel to one who has differed from me in 
a manly and magnanimous way, and who has 
agreed and sympathized with me without cavil or 
suspicion. There are periods in the life of every 
man, when a generous act or word takes a place 
which can never be forgotten. There are sudden 
and impulsive expressions of kindness, which are 
accepted as the genuine character of him who 
utters them. For this, in addition to what I have 



.48 

so abundantly offered, I stand here to speak for 
our senator; for this, and for that majestic ap- 
peal on his behalf made to me by that great 
man who has just passed away from us, and who 
carried with him those attributes of wisdom, and 
gentleness, and generosity, and honor, which when 
combined, inspire all our admiration and command 
all our obedience. I am confident, sir, that I have 
done my duty, feebly and imperfectly, but still 
with an approving conscience, and an earnest de- 
sire. And I trust the clear and conclusive report 
of the committee will be accepted, and that the 
Resolve .presented by them will be passed as the 
sense of this legislature. 



LB S '12 



